RUSSIAN ART+CULTURE...‘Russian Art 1920’s -1930’s’, Kit Art Publishing, Moscow 2006, cat no....

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RUSSIAN ART+CULTURE

RUSSIAN WORKS ON PAPERPRESENTS

For further information please contact Natasha ButterwickEmail: [email protected]

Telephone: 020 8748 7320

www.russianartandculture.com

Cover image: Georgy Rublev, Train and new construction, 1932. Tempera on paper, 31 x 45 cm

RUSSIAN ART+CULTURE

RUSSIAN WORKS ON PAPER

PRESENTS

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RUSSIAN WORKS ON PAPERThe 1920’s saw a period of unprecedented artistic freedom in Soviet Russia. Whilst the forces of repression gathered, finding their apogee in 1934, the years proceeding saw a vast array of new talent, artistic experimentation and optimism. The groups that grew out of the schools of learning, Vitebsk, UNOVIS, VKhUTEMAS or who studied at the feet of the masters, Malevich, Filonov, were numerous and wide-ranging. The Leningrad ‘Circle of Artists’ featured the work of Alexander Rusakov, who is represented here by five pictures, including two studies for seminal works, ‘Electrician’ and ‘Woman with a pram’ in the State Russian Museum is but one. His wife, Tatyana Kupervasser is another. Vera Pestel belonged to the ‘Makovets’ and ‘Path of Painting’ groups, whilst Katerina Zernova was a member of OST, the Stakhanovite Group whose mentor was Alexander Deineka. Indeed, works on paper and book illustrations, Zernova’s nine works for ‘ROSKA’ shown here being a fine example, frequently provided artists with an outlet for their more creative instincts. The work of Georgy Rublev, known as the ‘Soviet Matisse’ and famous for his portrait of Stalin reading Pravda, is instructive. From propaganda work of 1933, his scenes of unrest in Weimar Germany are unique historical documents, to gentle portraits and landscapes these works show a lost world and provide the perfect example of the genre of 1920’s-1930’s Russian works on paper, evoking a period of optimism in Soviet art, as in Soviet society before the formal introduction of the strictures of Soviet Socialist Realism and a rigid framework from which art never escaped until the death of Stalin.

Left: Ekaterina Zernova, Katya and Masha, 1929, Illustration for L.N.Tolstoy’s ‘ROSKA’. Watercolour, gouache and pencil on paper, 24 x 20 cm

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TATYANA KUPERVASSER 1866-1939

Harvest, 1928Coloured pencils on paper 18 x 18 cm

ProvenanceThe Artist’s grandson, St. Petersburg

Bibliography‘Russian Art 1920’s -1930’s’, Kit Art Publishing, Moscow 2006

Illustrated‘Russian Art 1920’s -1930’s’, Kit Art Publishing, Moscow 2006, page 17

Harvest, 1928Coloured pencils on paper, 18 x 18 cm



Illustrated‘Russian Art 1920’s -1930’s’, Kit Art Publishing, Moscow 2006, page 17

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SERGEI LUCHISHKIN 1902-1989

The Jump, 1931Lithograph on paper, 30 x 23 cm

ProvenanceThe Zavolokina Collection, Moscow

VERA PESTEL 1886-1952

Girl with a ball, 1924Black crayon on paper, 22 x 9 cm

ProvenanceThe Artist’s Daughter, Sofia Yevgenievna Pestel Zavolokina Collection, Moscow

Illustrated‘Monuments of Culture’, Moscow 2004, page 362

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GEORGY RUBLEV 1902-1975

Eastern Figure, 1932Tempera on paper, 45 x 37 cm

ProvenanceThe Family of the Artist, Moscow Matthew Bown, Berlin

Demonstration, 1932Anti-capitalist pictureTempera on paper, 30 x 38 cm


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Unemployment, 1932Anti-capitalist pictureTempera on paper, 31 x 38 cm


Train and new construction, 1932Tempera on paper, 31 x 45 cm


GEORGY RUBLEV 1902-1975

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Electrician, 1927Study for the painting, (State Russian Museum),Watercolour on paper, 12 x 9 cm


ExhibitedRussian Museum, St. Petersburg, Museum of Tsaritsyno, Moscow, ‘Time to Gather’, February 14th – July 2008, cat no. 183

IllustratedRussian Museum, St. Petersburg, Museum of Tsaritsyno, Moscow, ‘Time to Gather’, February 14th – July 2008, cat no. 183, page 247‘Russian Art 1920’s -1930’s’, Kit Art Publishing, Moscow 2006, cat no. 56 ‘Russian Works on paper 1890 -1930’, Kit Art Publishing, Moscow 2011

ALEXANDER RUSAKOV 1898-1952

Lady with a pushchair, 1927Study for the painting, (State Russian Museum)Watercolour on paper, 12 x 9 cm


ExhibitedRussian Museum, St. Petersburg, Museum of Tsaritsyno, Moscow ‘Time to Gather’, February 14th – July 2008, cat no. 182

IllustratedRussian Museum, St. Petersburg, Museum of Tsaritsyno, Moscow ‘Time to Gather’, February 14th – July 2008, cat no. 182, page 247‘Russian Art 1920’s -1930’s’, Kit Art Publishing, Moscow 2006, cat no. 67 ‘Russian works on paper 1890-1930’, Kit Art Publishing, Moscow 2011

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Study for a children’s game with a windmill and a factory, 1930Watercolour on paper, 22 x 35 cm



Chocolate, 1927Study for a poster for the State Food TrustWatercolour on paper, 21 x 30 cm




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Study for a bookshop window, 1930Watercolour on paper, 22 x 28 cm



ALEXANDER SEMYONOV

Couple on a bench, 1920’sPencil on paper, 18 x 15 cm.



1918

Portrait of a Lady in a black dress, 1930’sWatercolour and mixed media on paper, 41 x 30 cm

ProvenanceThe Zavolokina Collection, MoscowIllustrated‘Russian Line’, Sotheby’s, Kit Art Publishing, Moscow March 2012

By the Kremlin Wall. Alexander Gardens, Moscow, 1922Watercolour on paper, 26 x 35 cm


ALEXANDER SHUROV MIKHAIL SOKOLOV 1885-1947

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EKATERINA ZERNOVA 1900-1992

ROSKA, 1929 Roska’s dogs, 1929 Swallow and Swifts, 1929

Roska’s puppies, 1929

Katya and Vari’s bathtime, 1929 Nastiya’s Doll, 1929 Katya and Masha, 1929

ROSKA, 1929Cover illustration for L.N. Tolstoy’sWatercolour, gouache, whitening, pencil and collage on paper, 24 x 20 cm

ProvenanceThe Artist, Moscow Thence by descent

IllustratedA. Alenova, ‘Ekaterina Zernova.’, Konstanta Publishers, Moscow 2000, page 43N. Shantyko, ‘E.S. Zernova.’, Sovietsky Khudozhnik Publishers, Moscow 1962, page 10R. Zherdeva, ‘Ekaterina Sergeevna Zernova 85 years’, page 30

BibliographyI. N. Voekova, ‘Honoured Artist of the Russian Soviet Federation. Ekaterina Sergeevna Zernova.’, Sovietsky Khudozhnik Publishers, Moscow 1989N. Shantyko, ‘E.S. Zernova.’, Sovietsky Khudozhnik Publishers, Moscow 1962

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RUSSIAN ART+CULTURE...‘Russian Art 1920’s -1930’s’, Kit Art Publishing, Moscow 2006, cat no....

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